The biggest annual stock car racing event in Vermont celebrates its golden anniversary this weekend, as the People’s United Bank Milk Bowl rolls into Barre’s Thunder Road for the 50th time. There are precious few events in the country that offer the sheer amount of on– and off–track action, the prestige and history and the blockbuster purse that the 50th Milk Bowl carries.

For starters, there’s the qualifying and race format itself: With more than 50 Late Model teams expected to attempt qualifying, two-lap, single-car time trials — traditionally sponsored by Booth Bros. Dairy and H.P. Hood, of course — will take place on Saturday, locking only the two fastest cars into the field. The balance of the field goes into the pool of the “Triple 50” qualifying heats, where only the top five finishers from each transfer into the main event, filling the field to 17 positions.

Starting positions 18-24 revert back to time trials, locking in the seven fastest cars not already qualified through the Triple 50s. The balance of the 30-car grid is comprised of provisional starters from Thunder Road’s weekly series and the American-Canadian Tour’s two touring divisions.

The 30 teams that make it in then have the three-segment Milk Bowl to look forward to on Sunday. The first 50-lap round is run straight-up, awarding one race point to the winner, two points for the runner-up, three points for third place, and so on through the field. The top 24 finishers are then inverted, leaving the first-segment winner starting deep in the field, and a 75-lap second segment is run. Another set of race points is distributed following the same format, and then another 24-car invert sets the field for the final 75-lap leg.

The driver with the lowest three-round point total — which means it’s not always necessary to win any of the segments — is named the Milk Bowl winner and has the honor of kissing the beauty queen, the lovely 1,000-lb. Miss Daisy Dalton. Daisy is a 10 year-old registered Ayrshire dairy cow from Harvest Hills Farm in Berlin and is “Miss Milk Bowl” for the third consecutive year.

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For the 20-plus racers who don’t make it into the big show, this year has a special consolation prize: Two 50-lap segments making up a “Mini Bowl” will be run in the same format as the main event. Teams in the track’s weekly Bond Auto Tiger Sportsman and Allen Lumber Street Stock divisions will also see a return to their own Mini Bowl events for the first time in nearly a decade, with two segments run over the two-day weekend making up each division’s final championship event for the 2012 campaign.

There’s a half-century of history behind the Milk Bowl, beginning with Harold “Hard Luck” Hanaford’s win in the 1962 inaugural. Hanaford went on to win another one in 1964, with Ingerson brothers Lee (1963) and Russ (1965-66, 1968) winning their share as well. Through the years, legendary racers including Johnny Gammell, Stub Fadden, Jean-Paul Cabana, Bobby and Beaver Dragon, Dick McCabe, and Kevin Lepage took their turns swigging milk in the winner’s circle, too.

The money isn’t bad this weekend, either: The total purse including bonuses maxes out just over $170,000. Part of that whopping amount is a $50,000 bonus for any driver who can sweep all three segments of the Milk Bowl and get the elusive three-point win. Only three drivers have swept the event before: Hardwick’s Larry Demar in 1967, Dave Dion of Hudson, N.H., in 1975, and Florida-native-turned-Vermonter Robbie Crouch, whose second of a record four Milk Bowl wins came with a perfect score in 1986.

Hoar has won two of the three segments in all three of his Milk Bowl wins including last year, and just missed the perfect score in 1998, winning the first two legs and finishing second in the final round. The driver that denied him the trifecta was none other than his own father, Doug.

The Milk Bowl is a sight to behold, and includes a massive after-qualifying party on Saturday, starting with a spaghetti dinner, followed by the never-tame Calcutta driver auction, a tent dance with live music from local blues queen Tammy Fletcher, and fireworks. Sunday’s festivities include the Norwich University Drill Team, the Thunder Road War Pipes bagpipe band, and the biennial cow chip throwing contest in which running politicians strut their stuff with genuine manure in hand.

Qualifying begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, with opening ceremonies at 1 p.m. on Sunday followed by the first segment of the Milk Bowl.